Dark Lonely Lies (The Denton Family Legacy 6)

This wasn’t the fucking life he wanted for Tulip. Even as she laughed at whatever it was Jade said, he knew he couldn’t keep this shit up. Running wasn’t the answer. It wasn’t even fucking close.

Almost as if his brothers felt his moment of weakness, his cell phone started to ring, and he recognized the number. It was Rick.

“To what do I owe the pleasure of your call?”

“We found your location. The men, the bounty hunters, they’ve been taken care of,” Rick said.

“I guess I should say thank you, but then you’re no closer to stopping them than I am.”

“You need to come home.”

“And you need to go home. You think with you showing your face around here Mandy is going to be protected for much longer? Not all of us has a twin as a fallback.”

Silence rang out across the line. “You’re pissed so I’m not going to bite to that one.”

“I’m starting to think, Uncle, you’re getting mellow in your old age.”

“Landon, come home.”

“Why the fuck did you bring her?” he asked. “Do you have any idea the danger you’ve put her in being near me? Look what happened to Sarah.”

“Sarah didn’t die because of you. She died because your father was a piece of shit who got greedy. If I could’ve saved her, I would have. You know that. Maddox and I disagreed on a lot of things, and this would have been something I would stop him on.”

“It is, is it? You would’ve stopped him?”

“I would do whatever it takes to keep her safe. I know what it’s like to love a woman with all your heart and soul, but you and I both know Sarah wasn’t really yours, was she? I bet you’re looking at Tulip right now. Seeing her makes you feel calm, doesn’t she? You can’t imagine for a single moment being out of her sight. She makes all the darkness seem light again, and what’s more, every single moment, you want to touch her. To convince yourself she’s real.”

“I’m a dead man. We both know it. She’s at risk when she’s with me.”

“Because I saw her and I had to take a chance, Landon. I’ve not had to deal with any real blood baths because you were bored. Look at us now, having a civilized conversation. You need to come home, with Tulip.”

“Not going to happen. I don’t trust you, or my brothers.”

“We had nothing to do with Sarah’s death and if you’d stopped being a stubborn little shit, you’d see it.”

“I get that, but you also want to get Tamsin home, and don’t think I don’t know what that means. I’ll never let you get to her. My time as a Denton is done.” He hung up the cell phone, pissed off and agitated.

Rick had fucked with his head. Landon couldn’t seem to help it. Whenever it came to his uncle, he had mixed feelings.

Rick had never done anything to make him doubt him, but before Rick had left to be with his woman years ago, he’d been one of the worst assholes out there. He’d been deadly. Underneath all of Rick’s calm exterior was a monster.

All he’d ever known from Rick was support. Could he trust him now? He honestly didn’t know. He wanted to.

Landon wasn’t used to being alone.

He slammed the laptop closed and stalked toward his woman. Without a word to Jade, he grabbed Tulip, pulled her against his body, and slammed his lips down on hers, silencing any protest.

He needed her more than his next breath. She was everything to him.

His fire. He wanted to be consumed by her.

Landon stopped the kiss but he wasn’t done with her. Grabbing her arm, he led her back into the house.

“Landon, what the hell are you doing? I was helping Jade. You can’t just drag me away.”

“Jade can wash clothes. She enjoys it and when I’m done, I’ll go and finish off.”

“When you’re done? Why can’t I help? Are you going to kill me?”